A Framework

for
Understandin
g Poverty
Sonyi Santos Lopez

Conclusion
Our role as educator is not to save
the individual, but rather to offer a
support system, role models, and
opportunities to learn, which will
increase the likelihood of the
persons success. Ultimately the
choice always belongs to the
individual.

APPENDIX
Additive Model: aha! Processs Approach to Building High
Achieving Schools
Aha! Process offers a unique understanding of economic diversity that can give individuals, families,
and communities new ways of solving problems. It is the hope of aha! Process that 100 years form
now poverty will no longer be viewed as economically inevitable.

Using the knowledge of people in

poverty to build an accurate mental
model of poverty
Studying poverty and research to further
inform the work of AHA! Process
The study has been organized in the
following four cloister;

Behaviors of the individual

Human and social capital in the community
Exploitation
Political/ economic structures

CAUSES OF POVERTY

Behaviors of the individual

Definition: Research on the choices, behaviors, and habits of
people in poverty.
Sample topics:

Dependence on welfare
Morality
Crime
Single Parenthood
Breakup of families
Intergenerational
character traits
Work ethic

Racism and discrimination

Commitment to
achievement
Spending habits
Addiction, mental illness,
domestic violence,
planning skills
Orientation to the future
Language experience

CAUSES OF POVERTY
Human and Social Capital in the Community.
Definition: Research on the resources available to
individuals, communities and businesses
Sample Topics:

Intellectual Capital
Social Capital
Availability of Jobs
Availability of well
paying jobs
Racism and
Discrimination
Availability and quality
of education
Adequate skill sets

Childcare for working

families
Decline in neighborhoods
Decline in social morality
Urbanization
Suburbanization of
manufacturing
Middle-class fight
City and regional planning

CAUSES OF POVERTY
EXPLOITATION
Definition: Research on how people
in poverty are exploited because
they are in poverty.
Sample Topics:

Drug Trade
Racism and
Discrimination
Cash advance lenders
Sub Prime lenders
Lease Purchase outlets

Gambling
Temp work
Sweatshops
Sex trade
Internet Scams

CAUSES OF POVERTY
POLITICAL/ECONOMIC STRUCTURES
Definitions: Research on the economic,
political, and social policies at the
international, national, state, and local
levels.
Sample Topics:

Globalization
Corporate influence on
legislators
Declining middle class
De-industrialization
Job loss
Decline of Unions

Taxations patterns
Salary ratio of CEO to
line worker
Immigration patterns
Economic Disparity
Racism and discrimination

AHA! Process Model: Work across all sectors of a community to address the root causes of
poverty by:
Supporting individuals as they build resources and to achieve a sustainable community where
everyone can live well.

The need for change: Naming

problems and finding solutions
To address poverty, education, health care, justice, or community
sustainability we must acknowledge that it seeks change: In the
individuals' behavior, community approaches, and in
political/economic structures
Naming the problem accurately is the first step toward a solution
Staff require training because they are likely to see deficit
where there are none. The lack of staff training can result in the
deficit model appearing in the attitudes of the professionals, in
individual bias, and inaccurate assumptions, for example;
A child who comes to school after getting up early to pump water from
an outside well and whose mother hand-washes clothes once a week,
clothes may be seen as dirty or less presentable
A child who can shower in their own bathroom before coming to
school and whose mother uses a washer and dryer

Problems are identified with student performance, drug use, teen

pregnancy, inadequate skill sets, job retention, and so on.

Deficit Model/Positive
Model
Deficit model glass is seen as half empty
Focuses on fixing the problem and the individual
Environmental conditions are translated into the
characteristics of the individual and gradually turn
into negative stereotypes.
the talents, gift, and skills get lost, message
becomes you cant

Positive Model glass is seen as half full

Believes that, the child has very little control over
his/her environment and the behaviors of adults.
Educators feel that children have been exposed to
so much, and have adults capabilities.

Additive Model; The aha! Process combines the value of

accurate problem identification with a positive, strength-based community wide

approach to change. Applying the glass half empty/half full model to the three
economic classes and the work of aha! Process would look like this:

For the person in poverty individual have a full

glass(they have the assets and strength to survive
in that environment. But when they encounter
the middle-class or the wealth class they do not
have all the assets necessary to survive.
For the person in the middle class there glass is
full as long as they remain in their environment,
otherwise if they happen to find themselves in
poverty or wealth the glass would be half empty.
For the person in wealth individuals have a full
glass as well. However, if wealthy individuals
poverty and middle-class glass is only half full and
all they know is their own rules of survival, then it
can result in policies that are ineffective and
counterproductive.

RESOURCES

Bibliography
Ruby Payne; A Frame work for
understanding poverty